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Pier A Is Now Open—and It’s Gorgeous

The first floor at Pier A Harbor House soft-opened last night, and now it’s open from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily. The first floor is casual, with no reservations; it’s as much of a bar as a restaurant, with more TVs than I care for but so what—look at the restoration and the views! Congratulations to the Poulakakos family on a terrific job. The second floor will be fine dining, and it’ll open around the new year. (I didn’t ask when the private event spaces on the third floor would open.)

And there were two details on the plaza that I loved. Not sure if the fish flagpoles appear elsewhere in Battery Park (too cold to go explore).

27 Comments

Two comments about the menu: first, I’d guess Brooklyn Brewery’s “Long Hall” Lager was brewed for them (or maybe renamed). Second, $4 per oyster?! Is that where we’re at? I have to cough up fifty bucks for a dozen oysters? Strange, when the cocktail prices are pretty reasonable.

The place does look great, but i hope the food is better than at the other Poulakos restaurants….i have tried them a number of times and NEVER had a good meal. I am hoping he raises the bar, so the food will taste as good as the place looks.

Nice looking place however it’s a pit fall. This is a DESTINATION similar to the South Street Seaport many years ago which never made it. How many people will taxi down here only to be stranded at midnight? The place will see a flock of tourists splitting salads and drinking ice tea. $4 for an oyster?? Good luck with that. Place will be closed in a year.

Pier A is a beautiful looking site on the Hudson unfortunately for the owners it’s probably doomed for failure. The restaurant itself is a magnificent work full of detail and design. Pier A, however is not close enough to any “real” active areas-residential or business. It is a PURE destination. I’m not certain that many New Yorkers will venture all the way to the south tip of Manhattan whereby no taxis exist late at night? It’s truly a ghost town. Prices are a bit out of line as well. $4 PER OYSTER?

This is less of a reply to Martin and Dylan than a plea to everyone who reads this site.

When a new business opens, can we at least experience it before announcing it’s doomed to fail? I am well aware that I’m prone to negativity, but trust me when I say that I’m really working on it, and I can’t tell you how it feels to work hard on a post about a new establishment only to have the establishment curtly dismissed. I can only imagine how it feels to the people who have spent months, even years, on the business. I don’t know the people behind Pier A (or Little Park, or Jack Erwin, or Baked, or every other business that gets this treatment), and it’s possible they’re inured to this kind of thing, but increasingly, I’m not.

I live by here and it is never a problem to get a taxi at any time of the day or night. It is next door to the Ritz Carlton…which has a massive taxi stand. It’s also next to Gigino and Inatesso, two italian restaurants that do brisk business and have both been around for years. Also an easy walk to the 1,2,3,4,5,J,Z, and R trains, as well as the PATH and the Hoboken and Jersey City ferries. It’s Lower Manhattan, not effing Siberia!

Writing as an oyster lover, I know these are Tribeca prices people. See Grand Banks. See Tribeca Grand. I will enjoy an evening stroll down there to enjoy the bivalves as a local. The place looks beautiful and I am excited to try it.

Pier A was never meant to be for locals or new yorkers in general. It was built as a tourist destination and marketed for travel agencies, large tour groups, weddings and parties. The tourists will visit the 9/11 Memorial and then have dinner at Pier A. Also, being marketed as a concert, live music venue, so perhaps people will come to see a certain bands or types of music, music festivals, etc. if that is their interest. All that being said, i imagine we will be subjected to mediocre, overpriced food.

Congratulations on a beautiful site and what promises to be an exciting venue. I wish everyone involved great success and I am looking forward to experiencing it first hand. This will be a welcome addition to the area.

Thank You Erik, I too am amazed at the level of negativity expressed by people. The neighborhood is FAR different from 10 years ago, even TWO years ago. Thousands of new residents are expected in FiDi in the next two years, thousands of new hotel rooms, tens of thousands of new jobs as the WTC fills up and, of course, millions of more tourists. I applaud the confidence and leap of faith that the Poulakakos family has taken and I look forward to eating there and especially eating outdoors during the summer. Let’s prove the naysayers wrong! :-)

Paul, this is a FAR different neighborhood than back then. The seaport had NO appeal to locals; just tourists. That is drastically changing. I for one can’t wait until I can attend the new movie complex opening next summer.. Times change! The Financial District will be one of New York’s top shopping districts within 2 years as close to 2MM sf of new retail opens up! There are now over 60,000 residents; increasing by many thousands over the next few year. Many more will be staying here in more than 3,000 new hotel rooms. Millions more tourists will visit the new sites and YES, they will be needing places to eat. And as residents, we too, need, want and deserve new and fun places to eat. Pier A will be one of those places. Much more is to come. :-)

It’s a truly unique site in one of the most stunning settings in New York. I’m a local who will go down there as often as possible to enjoy a drink and a bite in a place that makes you realize how thrilling living in downtown New York can be!

As for the negative comments, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but comment sections like this, as well as review sites like yelp make some people think they’re food critics or experts in real estate.

I commend them for restoring such an amazing space and wish them well.

Just walking distance from my apartment; I can’t wait to try it. Dining there tonight.. Poulakakos spent so much money on restoring Pier A. Its a great addition to our neighborhood especially to us Southern Battery Park City residents.

I had dinner there last night. A beautiful renovation and view; very nice ambiance overall. Food was just OK. I love the space and for that reason will go back. Might have better luck with something else on the menu next time.

We had a few drinks and snacks there yesterday. Nice looking but the music is a little off at times. The good news: a very nice $9 glass of Grenache . Guinness is good. Bad news: the farmers meat and cheese plate was $22 and came with four small pieces of bread. We asked for more and they came out with three. Way overpriced for what it was. We then got the fries, which were $6, and just warm, not hot. Tasted fine in general. Bartender was nice. FYI, they do not have non-alcoholic beer, which kind of bugged me.

A relevant aside: it was primarily your tax dollars through the Battery Park City Authority that were responsible for the renovation at Pier A; the Poulakakos and their partners came in — renovation wise — at the very end.

I visited Per A today first time after it started to be renovated almost 35 years ago. I am started working in downtown approximately the same time and every morning for 35 years I was watching so called renovation process from my bus window when coming to downtown from the tunnel.
For many years it was just homeless space with no work at all.
And it absolutely nothing to do with new restaurant owners. It was a long long fight between federal government as a owner of land and developers. I do not believe that private owners would spent 35 years for such simple building renovation. Think about how many millions of tax dollars were lost for those years.
35 years ago no Battery park city was exists and circuses were using that empty space next to pier A. And of course finally should be come something better than a beer house. Waiting 35 years I was expecting something unusual and much nicer than just a beer house with small overprized menu.
But just sit outside with glass of beer overlooking Statue of Liberty is very nice.

Visited on Labor Day, Monday Sept. 7, 2015 for the 3rd time. The 1st 2 visits were great. Love the atmosphere. Had the same waiter the 1st 2 times. Andrew from Ireland. He was the perfect waiter. Yesterday, well a different story. The whole waitstaff seemed to be off. Their knowledge gets a D- in my book. We ordered drinks and it took about 15 minutes. Ordered 1 dozen oysters and they brought 6 and then brought the other 6 at dessert time. Ordered meals and 1 was missing and the waitress tells us that the Chef was too busy and forgot. WHAT? Terrible service. As I said, I love the atmosphere so if I ever go back there, I will only go for drinks. Very poorly managed and terrible waitstaff. It wasn’t only our table receiving the ill service, other tables were as well. Save your money and just go for drinks to the bar.